Archaism in Mehrdad Avesta's poems

Abstract

Each literary genre possesses its distinct language that sets it apart from other genres. The epic literary genre also has its own language, characterized by lexical, grammatical, rhetorical, and content-related indicators. On the other hand, the epic language evolves over time and with the expansion of epic writing. However, the impact of each epic is measured against the standardized language of the Shahnameh by Ferdowsi.

Mehrdad Afzta is considered a pioneer in contemporary protest poetry, attempting to base his poems on the language standards of epic poetry in his protest and epic poems. This article examines the antiquity in Mehrdad Afzta’s poetry using a descriptive-analytical approach. The results indicate that he managed to approximate his poetry to the standardized epic language in various aspects, including music, vocabulary, and content. While Afzta’s poems may seem simple and devoid of literary techniques, through approximation, the use of concrete and thematically epic similes, and exaggeration, he succeeded in meeting the linguistic standards of the epic genre. From a sentence structure perspective, Afzta adeptly controlled sentence construction rules and created epic spaces with ease. In terms of content, the poet positioned his poems as epic with the use of epic themes, national traditions, and heroism.